[EU] Champions League 2007/2008 (45 Viewers)

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Dominic

Senior Member
Jan 30, 2004
16,693
No, it isn't an indication of the whole league's quality, but at the end of the day you can't say fairer than 3/4 semi finalists, which is more than a distinct possibility AGAIN! Personally I would always back an English team against a team from any other league just because I think the players are a lot fitter being used to a faster game, and more often than not this shows. Technically we aren't always the best (though certainly improving in these aspects) but the sheer pace and power puts certainly serie A to shade. Which is sad to say as the Italian league has always been the one I've followed, and I used to love it when Juve would quite literally teach United footballing lessons each season
I agree with what you write, but i'd say this still only applies to the english top 4. The gap between the top 4 and the rest of the league is much much bigger in the Premiership than it is in Serie A.


That game (Milan 3-0 Utd) was a fluke, in my opinion at least. Plus the 4th team in England easily disposed of the runaway leaders in Italy more recently which kinda makes it more relevant too. From where I sit the pace of the English game is too much for Italian sides to handle. Spanish too but maybe not to the same degree
It just shows how football fluctuates. Now the English have a lot of teams in the semi's, couple of seasons ago it were the Italians, before that the Spanish. Things will turn again, probably. Although money could force that fluctuation in a certain way of course.
 

Gill_juve

Senior Member
May 29, 2006
5,494
No, it isn't an indication of the whole league's quality, but at the end of the day you can't say fairer than 3/4 semi finalists, which is more than a distinct possibility AGAIN! Personally I would always back an English team against a team from any other league just because I think the players are a lot fitter being used to a faster game, and more often than not this shows. Technically we aren't always the best (though certainly improving in these aspects) but the sheer pace and power puts certainly serie A to shade. Which is sad to say as the Italian league has always been the one I've followed, and I used to love it when Juve would quite literally teach United footballing lessons each season

That game (Milan 3-0 Utd) was a fluke, in my opinion at least. Plus the 4th team in England easily disposed of the runaway leaders in Italy more recently which kinda makes it more relevant too. From where I sit the pace of the English game is too much for Italian sides to handle. Spanish too but maybe not to the same degree
England has the strongest TOP 4, but how lon has it been since any other teamconsistenly broke that domininance? we have to go back to leeds probably for that. england is getting further immersed every season into becoming an international laegue rather than an english one.
The percentage of english players in EPL is lower than 40%, and eventually it will get lower and lower, because tbh the fans dont give a shit, just look at liverpool and that fucking dubai group. and eventually, which i am pretty sure will happen.
They will cap the leagues amount of foreign players and the siging of youth players, then where will teams like arsenal, Manu be? even portsmouth will really suffer. it may be a strong league now but it isnt setting itself up for a good future, thats for sure.

and if their fans show the amount of insolence they show now, then they obviously dont give a shit.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,255
England has the strongest TOP 4, but how lon has it been since any other teamconsistenly broke that domininance? we have to go back to leeds probably for that. england is getting further immersed every season into becoming an international laegue rather than an english one.
The percentage of english players in EPL is lower than 40%, and eventually it will get lower and lower, because tbh the fans dont give a shit, just look at liverpool and that fucking dubai group. and eventually, which i am pretty sure will happen.
They will cap the leagues amount of foreign players and the siging of youth players, then where will teams like arsenal, Manu be? even portsmouth will really suffer. it may be a strong league now but it isnt setting itself up for a good future, thats for sure.


and if their fans show the amount of insolence they show now, then they obviously dont give a shit.
He already said that.
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
WOW THE Tom!! what happened to the Thuram avatar?:D

The whole EPL is overrated and overpriced, some goes for the players, this affects their hunger for growth and ambitions!
There is little space for new home made talents and their proper development, the situation is irreversible...
Which is why they owned three italian teams in their own turf this season??


The level of the top 4 isn't the way to measure the quality of the entire league.

Besides wasn't it just a season ago that the nr4 in Italy easily disposed of the English champions?

Your conclusion is way too easily drawn.
Something the no4's in England regularly do to the Italian champions. (Liverpool - Inter this season, Arsenal-Juve 2006 and Liverpool Juve 2005)
 

Sarah

s-doLLa
Sep 26, 2007
2,119
I'm surprised to see everyone saying Roma had no chance tonight and played horrible. I thought Roma put up a good fight for much of the match granted their passing was off sometimes and it was clear they were lacking in the midfield. BUT overall it was a good performance by Roma which was just overshadowed by their failure to finish. It was def better than their performance against Real Madrid. They had about 3 or 4 clear chances to equalize in the second half. The header by C. Ronaldo was a great goal and almost impossible for Doni to block that. I just think it was clear Roma gave up after that joke of a goal by Rooney and then Man Utd took control of the match and could have clearly scored more. Too bad Roma had to face Man Utd with such a weakened squad.

Now I am just hoping for a Liverpool Barcelona final. I don't want to see Man Utd in a final because I can't handle seeing C. Ronaldo prancing around topless. His attitude is too much for me to even appreciate it.


Why does it always come to this annoying argument of which league is better. Who cares what league is better than the other. Its a cycle currently the EPL is the strongest league clearly. Let's not be in denial about it. Give Serie A a little more time and we will be back. As it has been said, it goes in cycles.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,255
Which is why they owned three italian teams in their own turf this season??




Something the no4's in England regularly do to the Italian champions. (Liverpool - Inter this season, Arsenal-Juve 2006 and Liverpool Juve 2005)
Actually, didn't Pool finish 5th in '05.:D
 
OP
JCK

JCK

Biased
JCK
May 11, 2004
123,587
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #4,050
    Why does it always come to this annoying argument of which league is better. Who cares what league is better than the other. Its a cycle currently the EPL is the strongest league clearly. Let's not be in denial about it. Give Serie A a little more time and we will be back. As it has been said, it goes in cycles.
    Best I've read so far!
     

    Omair

    Herticity
    Sep 27, 2006
    3,254
    How can people measure league strength based only on a knockout match ? a team might get lucky once or twice (Tom's example of Milan) in those games ..

    a league strength can't be based on common matches between teams in respective leagues .. for example .. ManUtd do not define EPL nor does Liverpool .. if those two beat Roma and Inter that doesn't mean EPL is better than Serie A. It actually means that ManUtd and Liverpool are better than Roma and Inter in those two matches PERIOD.. in ManUtd/Roma case in many matches ..

    you gonna say that Inter and Roma are on top of Serie A and got their asses handed to them ?? I'll tell you we didn't start the league two weeks ago and got those two positions temporarily with the 36 weeks ahead .. What actually defines leagues strength is the week in week out performances of their teams.. how weak teams face bigger teams .. how big teams react .. international matches of these kinds don't say anything about the league strength .. and yes, Michel Platini might use this argument for his cause :) ..

    ManUtd screwed Roma today and last year because Roma lack experience they're building their team .. they're not in a hurry to win the CL .. while ManUtd are far more experienced with veterans all over the team, including previous CL winners .. that's really a big difference .. let alone the Fergie has been there for more than 2 decades so he knows everything about his team's game .. Spaletti still needs experience himself .. there are many factors for ManUtd's win today ..

    I'm really fed up with EPL fans saying that their league is the best .. please tell the difference between best and richest .. few days ago one arrogant ManUtd fan told me this "I expect that if Fulham (which is second to last in EPL) were in Serie A they'd be in top 7 easily .. and that Everton would beat any team in Serie A including your super Juve !!" ..

    Is that so?? How about Derby playing against Inter, Roma and Juve in the same day and winning all matches except Inter's because Inter drew in the last minute with a wrong penalty called for them ??

    I'm not saying that Serie A kicks ass .. but the gap between EPL and Serie A isn't that big .. and media tends to exaggerate the fact that money is everything in football .. If so how come Getafe are kicking everyone's ass ? one time wonders ?? so be it .. that happened with Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco and other teams .. but how do you know it's not a one hit wonder ?? Where was Lyon a decade ago ? You say that suddenly they have a money well in their backyard ?? Also one hit wonders? ..

    League strength, if matters so much, is about every little detail in the league itself .. Personally, I don't really care as long as I enjoy my Juve games regularly :) ..
     

    Alen

    Ѕenior Аdmin
    Apr 2, 2007
    52,574
    One big part of the problem can be located in Calciopoli trials and with the stupid taxes Italian teams pay.

    The exodus of talent can not be ignored. Partly it was due to Calciopoli and partly because the English and especially the Spanish teams pay much lower taxes than the Italian teams do. Shevchenko was offered huge wages so he left. There was no way on earth Sheva to get such wages in Italy.
    Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Emerson and Thuram left during Calciopoli, Luca Toni and Fabio Grosso, two world cup winners, were bought by a German and a French team.
    German and French team buying Italian WC winners from Italian clubs. This shows perfectly how strong financially the Italians are atm.

    Again with the taxes...... world star players can't be bought by the Italians anymore. If Juve offers Cristiano Ronaldo 10m eur wages , Real can offer him 15m eur wages and when the taxes will be added both Juve and Real will pay the same ammount, while CR7 will get 15m in Spain and 10m in Italy. Which offer do you think he'll accept ?

    While FIGC shot themselves in the foot when they sent Juve to serie B and when they took the right from Fiorentina to play in CL twice in a row, the Italian goverment under Prodi did the rest of the job when they made the taxes higher than they were under Berlusconi.

    The results can be seen in Europe this year and i'm affraid in the next year or two.
     

    Fred

    Senior Member
    Oct 2, 2003
    41,113
    I thought Sir Red Nose played it smart today, he went for crowding the midfield to limit Roma's options, which in turn forced the likes of De Rossi and Pizarro to play the hopeless long ball most of the time.

    Its not everyday Fergie tactically outsmarts a good manager, is it?
     

    C4ISR

    Senior Member
    Dec 18, 2005
    2,362
    The Prem is the strongest league right now, not English football. English football is in crisis, considering they cant qualify for major international tournaments, need foreign coaches for both club and NT level, and are signing foreign players over English ones.

    The English media need to swallow their pride, and take this success into perspective. Fact of the matter is, English clubs have needed foreign players, foreign coaches and foreign owners to get their LEAGUE in its current position. I dont understand y English ppl take pride in that, or try and paint this as English dominance. The prem is dominant, but there is very little English about it.
     

    Red

    -------
    Moderator
    Nov 26, 2006
    47,024
    I'm surprised to see everyone saying Roma had no chance tonight and played horrible. I thought Roma put up a good fight for much of the match granted their passing was off sometimes and it was clear they were lacking in the midfield. BUT overall it was a good performance by Roma which was just overshadowed by their failure to finish. It was def better than their performance against Real Madrid. They had about 3 or 4 clear chances to equalize in the second half. The header by C. Ronaldo was a great goal and almost impossible for Doni to block that. I just think it was clear Roma gave up after that joke of a goal by Rooney and then Man Utd took control of the match and could have clearly scored more. Too bad Roma had to face Man Utd with such a weakened squad.

    Now I am just hoping for a Liverpool Barcelona final. I don't want to see Man Utd in a final because I can't handle seeing C. Ronaldo prancing around topless. His attitude is too much for me to even appreciate it.


    Why does it always come to this annoying argument of which league is better. Who cares what league is better than the other. Its a cycle currently the EPL is the strongest league clearly. Let's not be in denial about it. Give Serie A a little more time and we will be back. As it has been said, it goes in cycles.
    :tup:

    I thought Sir Red Nose played it smart today, he went for crowding the midfield to limit Roma's options, which in turn forced the likes of De Rossi and Pizarro to play the hopeless long ball most of the time.

    Its not everyday Fergie tactically outsmarts a good manager, is it?
    It's not.

    He started with a good shape and changed to 4-4-2 when Roma were in control at the start of the 2nd half, which allowed Utd to get a grip of the game.
     
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